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For Team Canada, Anaheim Ducks top pick Nick Ritchie poses a big hypothetical

BROSSARD, Que. — Being big and Ritch can have its drawbacks.

Nick Ritchie, who signed his first pro contract with the Anaheim Ducks right before heading to Team Canada's summer development camp, is feeling very good. This is also the point in the cycle of the world junior where every bit of minutia is magnified. Ritchie went No. 10 in the draft to Anaheim by virtue of having faster-twitch hands and on-ice vision than typically possessed by a 6-foot-3, 235-pound left wing. Team Canada is sizing up the Orangeville, Ont., native to be a forechecker and finisher on a top line at the world junior championship. The risk is that at his size, he could run up against the International Ice Hockey Federation's officiating standards. Ritchie had two minor penalties during Tuesday's exhibition game vs. the Czech Republic. Both came as he was trying to delivering a bodycheck; hello, harbinger harnessed for narrative purposes.

"I don't think I'm going to be trying to be careful," said the Peterborough Petes standout. "I just have to play my game and something I have to do to make this team is be physical and make big hits on the forecheck. I'm not going to stop from doing that. Obviously you have to pick your spots and keep your arms down a little bit but you still have to play physical."

It's not as if a player can simply have a mental toggle switch based on the patch on a referee's sweater. That is a fact of life for Canada at the WJC, particularly for taller, thickly built players. Current Washington Capitals wing Tom Wilson, who is 6-foot-4, was a late cut from the 2013 team amid concern his bashing style would lead to a lot of penalties.

"The [international officials] call more of the elbows and stuff like that," said Ritchie, who is a coming off a 39-goal season with the Petes. "They kind of let that slide a little in the CHL. Overall it's pretty similar. If I deliver nice, clean hits it shouldn't be a problem.

"Once you get into a game, you're not thinking, 'I'm playing IIHF hockey' or 'I'm playing juniors,' " the Orangeville, Ont., native added. "It's one game. It's the same. You have to try to watch as best as you can."

Present-day Vancouver Canucks wing Zack Kassian was also suspended at the 2011 WJC for a check to the head. Canada also had its lineup reduced during the '13 tourney by suspensions. For the time being, it makes little sense to put clamps on players.

"It's summer camp hockey and we don't want to take away the physicality or intensity of our players," coach Benoît Groulx said. "Our message to them is: 'we got to play hard.' We don't want to be abused by any team in this summer tournament. They know what they have to do and we'll see how it plays out."

At 6-5 and 208 pounds, defenceman Darnell Nurse has to be similarly mindful of how the way he plays a one-on-one battle with a smaller player can look, in a split second, to an official. Spots have to be picked. Meantime, there's still, at least, a public expectation, that a Canadian team will try to throw the big, momentum-shifting bodyceck.

"You just have to be conscious, whether it's a stiffer [in international play] or not, a clean hit is a clean hit," the Edmonton Oilers prospect and Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds captain said.

Nurse had a spike in his penalty rate in his sophomore season in the Soo but has mostly stayed on the straight and narrow.

"Whenever you get the mindset of letting the game come to you, that's where the time spent in the box is going to go down," he said.

Meantime, it's exciting times for the Ritchie family. Nick's older brother, Brett Ritchie, helped the Texas Stars win the AHL Calder Cup in June. The younger Ritchie will be off to the Ducks' training camp next month.

Nick Ritchie, whom Anaheim took with the choice it got from Ottawa in the Bobby Ryan deal, is glad his first NHL training camp will be with a playoff team.

"It's never a bad thing that you're drafted by a team that's so good," Ritchie said. "Hopefully I can go in there and have a good shot at making that team."

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.